Madison Square Garden Celebrates A Century with Coca-Cola

My team recently was involved with a project to create an exhibit for an event celebrating the 100 year relationship between Coca-Cola and Madison Square Garden. It was an exciting project which culminated in a press event at MSG yesterday. In conjunction with the announcement, Madison Square Garden and Coca-Cola are having a sweepstakes to celebrate.

The photograph above is a 1926 image of the Coca-Cola soda fountain at the third Garden.

While Madison Square Garden is indeed the most famous arena in the world, MSG, the Company, also encompasses the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theater, the Knicks, and the Rangers so there was plenty of material to choose from.

One of the more unusual facts we found was that Asa Candler entered his famed "Briarcliff Birds" in a poultry show in 1913 winning 12 ribbons including four for first place. The most interesting piece from our collection was a great Coca-Cola cardboard with Knicks great and first African American NBA player Sweetwater Clifton from 1952. Madison Square Garden even had footage of the 1940 Ranger Stanley Cup team celebrating with bottles of Coca-Cola. The famous image of the Rockettes introducing Diet Coke at Radio City Music Hall had to be displayed. Countless boxing matches and other major events involving both brands have taken place at the Garden the last century. Add in all the musical acts that have endorsed Coca-Cola and played at the Garden, and we ended up having to cut some of the item we really wanted to display.

While the photographs are only cellphone quality, I have included some images of the exhibit cases and the event at the Garden yesterday, and I hope to have a video in the near future. Or you can check out the photo album on our facebook page

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands and more than 3,800 beverage choices. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognizable brands, our company’s portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands, 18 of which are available in reduced-, low- or no-calorie options. Our billion-dollar brands include Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Dasani, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Del Valle, Georgia and Gold Peak. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, we are the No. 1 provider of both sparkling and still beverages. More than 1.9 billion servings of our beverages are enjoyed by consumers in more than 200 countries each day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates.